


The Center of the Storm (Keep me sheltered from the cold)

by TimesBeingWhatTheyAre



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Callen's name, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Matryoshka, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21964978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre/pseuds/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre
Summary: He steps away slowly, hoping that it isn’t the last time that he will be able to talk to him, not the last time that he will ever feel the warmth of his father’s hand, and Sam is waiting there as always. The world tilts on its axis and Sam is there to catch him; he knows.“G. You good?”“…Yeah. I’m good,”He feels the truth of his words settling down into his skin as he steps away from the answers he’s been searching for all his life. He is happier than he’s been for a long time.Spoilers! S7E15 Matryoshka
Relationships: G Callen & Sam Hanna
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	The Center of the Storm (Keep me sheltered from the cold)

His breath freezes into puffs of steam as it exists his mouth, and his eyes burn with tears of relief and realisation.

“Grisha?” he asks, hardly daring to believe what he’s heard.

The man (his father) nods, and Callen has never felt anything as solid as the hand that holds his now.

“Grisha Aleksandrovich Nikolaev. Your mother wanted you to know where you came from,”

Callen feels his eyes welling up, and he has so much more to ask the man who is his father (and who would have thought that he could ever find the single man he wanted to find, in a world of billions and in a country barely his home). The sergeant motions for them to leave again, and G knows he has to go.

He steps away slowly, hoping that it isn’t the last time that he will be able to talk to him, not the last time that he will ever feel the warmth of his father’s hand, and Sam is waiting there as always. The world tilts on its axis and Sam is there to catch him; he knows.

“G. You good?”

“…Yeah. I’m good,”

He feels the truth of his words settling down into his skin as he steps away from the answers he’s been searching for all his life. He is happier than he’s been for a long time.

________________________________________

“So what was all that back there?” Sam finally asks, the two of them sitting alone in the back of the jeep. It’s taking them to the private jet (as promised) and they still have an hour or so to go, by Callen’s estimate.

“What was all what?” he responds, automatically defensive in the way he always is. Even with Sam.

“G, what did Garrison say?” his partner asks again, and G measures the feeling of that letter, hanging against his true name like the nickname it is, and he realises that he’s finally comfortable with it in a way that he’s never been before.

G. It doesn’t stand for a lack of something anymore. He isn’t less than anyone else anymore, because he has a name, has a father and he has- he has the basis of everything he’s ever wanted.

“Sam, I-“ he begins to respond, a little unsteady and uncertain in what he wants to say, so he pauses to decide. His name is so new that instinctively he wants to hold it for himself, to clutch it tight and never let anyone else know, but this is Sam.

He’s not going to tell the world, not yet anyway. Sam is his closest friend though, and G realises that he wants Sam to know him, the real him. The rest of the team don’t need to know yet, but Sam should.

“Sam,” he tries again, attempting a grin that slides trembling off his face, and feeling his eyes begin to shine with moisture again.

“Seriously G, what’s wrong?” Sam asks, sounding quite concerned because it’s not everyday that Callen’s brought to tears.

“Nothing’s wrong Sam,” G smiles again, and this one lingers at the corners of his words, painting the truth in them. “He told me my name,”

“Your name!?” Sam exclaims, instinctive smile rising to the surface to greet Callen excitedly, before falling in confusion. “But- how would he know? Unless-“

Callen smiles helplessly, shoulders relaxed and open in a way that they rarely were, and he responded. “Yeah. I think- he’s my father,”

Saying the words aloud make the whole thing seem more real somehow, and G laughs slightly in amazement even as tears begin to drip slowly down his cheeks. 

“He’s my father,” he repeats again, more under his breath than to Sam now, and he leans forwards to rest his head in his hands, shielding his emotion from his partner.

“That’s incredible, G,” Sam replies with understanding joy, and he reaches across the seats to pull G sideways into his arms, holding him tightly as quiet sobs began to shake his body. “That’s incredible,”

Callen laughs a little more, the sound emitting dimly from Sam’s strong embrace, and after a few more minutes, he manages to pull himself back upright.

“What were the odds?” he smiles lightly, dashing away the moisture that lingered on his cheeks in the wake of his outburst. He looks up at Sam and smiles again, bright with joy, and Sam can’t help but grin back.

“You know…we can return here sometime,” Sam offers offhandedly, making light of the fact that Callen had only just met his father and now they had to leave. He supposes it made sense now; all of G’s strange actions over the day- the odd silences, the lingering words and looks, the suspicious tones- everything.

Callen nods in acknowledgement, smile turning a little bittersweet at the reminder that they were still leaving, and the pair sits in silence for a few minutes.

“I mean it though G. That’s incredible. I’m happy for you,” Sam says softly, voice tender and honest as he looks at his best friend.

G considers, for a moment, how it feels to have a name entirely his own, and wonders how it will feel for somebody else to know it; for his best friend to say it.

He wants to know.

“…Grisha,” G whispers in response, making up his mind.

“Pardon?” Sam asks.

“My name,” G states, louder now, and looking Sam straight in the eyes. “It’s Grisha,”

“Grisha,” Sam echoes, and Grisha smiles back at him. “Damn. I’m- thanks, G,” 

“You can’t tell anyone else yet,” Callen warns, and Sam laughs.

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me… Grisha,” he tests, getting used to the way that the name feels in his mouth. 

“Call me G. At least in public,” Grisha says, also trying to get his head wrapped around the concept of having a name that others could call him, one that belongs to him.

“Sure G,” Sam responds easily, then drags Callen in for another awkward sideways hug. “Thank you for trusting me with this, partner,”

“There’s no-one else I’d rather tell,” G responds honestly, drawing back to his side of the car, and Sam lets him go, clinging on tightly to the demonstration of trust he had been given.

It’s still a good half an hour to the airport. They don’t speak again until they get there, but both of them are still smiling by the time they climb out.

Sam knocks into his shoulder lightly and says “Time to go home, Grisha,”

-and Grisha completely agrees.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm dead. This season...I'm going to have to write something for Seventh Child, but in the meantime I had to write this, because I needed a scene between Sam and Callen here, and it was sorely lacking.
> 
> So I made it myself.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed :)


End file.
